Am I the only person who keeps finding it harder and harder to remember what went on in every Food Wars episode? Especially during this cour.

Japanese Original Episode Title: 極星寮を背負って

Plot

The episode starts with Nene and Satoshi having a flashback of their childhood, where they used to hang out as kids and Satoshi was just better at everything while Nene was struggling to keep up. She looks quite competitive and willing to smash him now (even though she’s up against Souma at the moment). Shiratsu, Satoshi’s actual opponent, serves the judges an Italian-style eel dish, with a tomato-based sauce, and those culinary World Gourmet Organization book nerds are impressed, but just moderately. You can tell from the lack of nudity. Then, Satoshi decides to serve his own dish, a Hitsumabushi-style risotto, cooked with experimental ingredients from the Polar Star Dormitory, like homemade cheese and sake. Thanks to his skill, he manages to bring it all together and the judges are delighted (significant nudity occurs).

In the meantime, Nene promises to destroy Satoshi in the next round, but Satoshi warns her that she will be losing from Souma. Nene carries a long tradition of Soba, bringing techniques she has inherited from her family and advanced expertise, but Souma – as usual – seems to not give two shits about her and stir-fries his soba, shocking everyone around him.

Episode Highlights

European accent: It never ceases to be funny, seeing some west-origin character speaking Japanese in a ‘european’ accent, performed by a Japanese voice actor…

Had enough yet?: At this point, we are getting new characters in every single episode. Those WGO nerds are not gonna last longer than this Shokugeki, I’m sure. And somehow everyone who comes in is super important and badass, no regular people there.

Themes & Trivia

Cooking a live eel: Quite the challenge to prepare, even for experienced chefs. Eels are hard to manipulate as they are slippery and move around a lot, twitching. The reason why Satoshi nailed its head to the board is not just to kill it, but also to keep it still. Skinning it is a whole new problem, as the skin is pretty tough to remove.

Muromachi period: The Muromachi period is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate, which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi shōgun, Ashikaga Takauji, two years after the brief Kenmu Restoration of imperial rule was brought to a close.

World Gourmet Organization: There is no such thing. There is a World Gourmet Summit, a World Gourmet Society, and a World Health Organization, but what we see in the show is entirely fictional. I’m guessing it’s somehow referencing the Michelin star system or something.

Capitone: The European eel, a species of eel that is almost extinct at the moment. It’s commonly served as jellied eel in the UK or grilled in Italy. Maybe we should stop eating them since they’re getting extinct, just saying…

Shall we?

Can’t wait to see what the hell Souma came up with to win this time.

How did you find this Food Wars episode? Let us know in the comment section! And don’t forget to check the rest of the Spring 2018 anime reviews on MANGA.TOKYO!